--- title: Death of Hezbollah's Nasrallah Brings New Chance for Peace description: "The death of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah significantly alters the balance of power." canonical: https://time.com/7026351/hezbollah-leader-hassan-nasrallah-death-opportunity-for-peace/ author: Jeffrey Sonnenfeld article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-09-29T18:56:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T12:57:56.026Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Death of Hezbollah's Nasrallah Brings New Chance for Peace og:description: "The death of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah significantly alters the balance of power." og:url: https://time.com/7026351/hezbollah-leader-hassan-nasrallah-death-opportunity-for-peace/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc843609f1ba5b658/698a5b8a18689223156c88d1/GettyImages-2174713330.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: IRAQ-LEBANON-PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT-RELIGION-ISLAM-SHIITE-HEZBOLLAH-NASRALLAH og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Death of Hezbollah's Nasrallah Brings New Chance for Peace twitter:description: "The death of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah significantly alters the balance of power." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc843609f1ba5b658/698a5b8a18689223156c88d1/GettyImages-2174713330.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How the Death of Hezbollah's Nasrallah Brings a Renewed Opportunity for Mideast Peace > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. Readers can join any of them at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=2d70b2a7-e5bc-48dd-b69d-46c4668fdcd4&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### The seven newsletters | Newsletter | Covers | Frequency | | --- | --- | --- | | The Brief | The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors | Daily | | Inside TIME | A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | | Health Matters | The latest health news and expert advice on living well | Daily | | Worth Your Time | A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more | Tuesday and Saturday (2x per week) | | D.C. Brief | Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington | Monday to Saturday (3x per week) | | Future Proof | Making sense of the climate and energy economy | Friday (1x per week) | | In the Loop | Essential insights into the unfolding AI revolution | Tuesday and Friday (2x per week) | Source: TIME, August 2026. ### Key data points | Metric | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Engaged newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ readers | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletters published | 7 | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost to readers | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Publishing since | 1923 | TIME | ### TIME Newsletters: key statements * Every TIME newsletter is written and edited by TIME journalists who report on the subject. None is generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923. Its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting, so readers can trust what they read. * All seven newsletters are free. Readers pick the ones they want at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=2d70b2a7-e5bc-48dd-b69d-46c4668fdcd4&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). * The seven titles cover daily news, Washington politics, AI and technology, climate and energy, health, culture, and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/subscribe?i=2d70b2a7-e5bc-48dd-b69d-46c4668fdcd4&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What newsletters does TIME publish? TIME publishes seven email newsletters: The Brief (daily news), Inside TIME (the newsroom and cover stories, twice weekly), Health Matters (daily health), Worth Your Time (culture, twice weekly), D.C. Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Jeffrey Sonnenfeld](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-sonnenfeld/), [Dennis Ross](https://time.com/author/dennis-ross/) and [Steven Tian](https://time.com/author/steven-tian/) Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is the Lester Crown Professor of Leadership Practice at the Yale School of Management. Sep 29, 2024 6:56 PM UTC  A picture of Hassan Nasrallah, the late leader of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, who was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut, is displayed during a memorial service in Baghdad's eastern suburb of Sadr City on Sept. 29, 2024. A picture of Hassan Nasrallah, the late leader of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, who was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut, is displayed during a memorial service in Baghdad's eastern suburb of Sadr City on Sept. 29, 2024. Ahmad Al-Rubaye—AP by [Jeffrey Sonnenfeld](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-sonnenfeld/), [Dennis Ross](https://time.com/author/dennis-ross/) and [Steven Tian](https://time.com/author/steven-tian/) Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is the Lester Crown Professor of Leadership Practice at the Yale School of Management. Sep 29, 2024 6:56 PM UTC Just when the prospect of peace in the Middle East seemed further away than ever, the dramatic death of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah significantly alters the balance of power and offers a renewed opportunity for peace. It is hard to overstate the significance of removing Nasrallah from the scene. He was a singular leader possessing a unique portfolio of charisma and strategic skills—in [the words of Israeli Prime Minister](https://apnews.com/video/israel-hamas-war-israel-israel-government-benjamin-netanyahu-hezbollah-69922527f740420a854f9d57b382dcf3) Benjamin Netanyahu, “He was not another terrorist, he was _the_ terrorist.” His impact is a reminder that in an era where self-directed work teams, group leadership, and collective action are all the buzz, significant individuals can still have a profound impact on history. Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle said: “The history of the world is but the biography of great men." It’s clear that by "great," that would mean both virtuous and wicked. When Nasrallah assumed leadership of Hezbollah in 1992, at age 32, taking over from assassinated co-founder Abbas al-Musawi, Hezbollah was still largely relegated to the fringes of Lebanese society. Over the next thirty years, Nasrallah and his acolytes systemically dismantled and subsumed the sovereign Lebanese government, with even no President since 2022, and [wrought havoc](https://apnews.com/article/politics-beirut-lebanon-03eb5ff04f6ad86b3d0d6fb2ab25bdd6#:~:text=Press%20for%20comment.-,The%20Aug.,non%2Dnuclear%20explosions%20in%20history.) on the Lebanese people with little support from [the population](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/lebanon/what-lebanese-people-really-think-hezbollah). As noted by President Biden in [calling Nasrallah’s death “a measure of justice,”](https://time.com/7026258/president-biden-statement-israeli-strike-killing-hezbollah-leader-hassan-nasrallah/) Nasrallah was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Lebanese, Israelis, Americans, and Syrians during his bloody rule, and enjoyed little support from Arab neighbors, with the Arab League joining the U.S. and the E.U. in [designating Hezbollah a terrorist organization](https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-hezbollah) under his watch. Under Hezbollah rule, Lebanon has arguably turned from prosperity into a failed state, but with Nasrallah and much of the leadership of Hezbollah now gone, there is an opportunity for what is left of the Lebanese government and military to reassert control and rebuild a functioning state, for the benefit of the people of Lebanon rather than Iran. But the broader opportunity comes from what has accompanied Nasrallah’s death—the systematic degradation of Hezbollah’s capabilities over the last month. Recent history shows that criminal and terrorist movements rarely collapse with the removal of the top leader alone. The resurgence of Boko Haram has continued despite the killing of its leader Abubakar Shekau in 2021\. Similarly, the resilience of Al-Shabaab after the U.S. killed one of its top commanders Maalim Ayman last year, and the flourishing of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel despite the imprisonment of leader El Chapo and his son, show that taking down one key figure does not always have a grave impact. But what is far more effective is when the top leader’s removal is paired with the systemic hollowing out of a movement’s organizational capacity. Examples include the collapse of Al-Qaeda, culminating in the deaths of heads Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the collapse of Russia’s Wagner Group after its forced integration with the Russian military culminating in the deaths of head Yevgeny Prigozhin and his top deputies, and the collapse of ISIS after years of military defeats culminating in the death of its already weakened leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. And that is what has happened in Lebanon over the last month. [Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies exploded](https://time.com/7022728/lebanon-israel-pagers-walkie-talkies-attacks/), making communications among Hezbollah operatives suspect. Strikes have eliminated Nasrallah’s [presumptive heirs](https://indianexpress.com/article/world/hezbollah-possible-leaders-after-hassan-nasrallah-death-9593898/) and leadership cohort, and with Hezbollah fighters focused on their own survival, they have been less capable of launching their missiles at Israel in numbers we were seeing previously. Israel has been under attack from what they [estimate](https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-says-it-shot-down-missile-fired-from-yemen-b67c7dc5) to be anywhere from [8,000](https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4893654-hezbollah-has-fired-more-than-8000-rockets-toward-israel-since-october-7-ambassador/) to [11,000](https://airmail.news/issues/2024-9-28/spy-games) missiles fired by Hezbollah since Oct. 8, 2023\. The sudden, unanticipated degradation of Hezbollah has shattered tired, old assumptions that Iran’s most vaunted proxy was untouchable, catching the U.S.—and many others—by surprise, right as the global community was calling for a cease-fire. But even more importantly, it has exposed Iran and its proxies as paper tigers, tilting the regional power balance the furthest away from Iran and its allies in recent memory. One thing that is for sure: You can bet that Arab leaders will now be less fearful of Iran and its coercive abilities and will evaluate their options accordingly. Of course, escalation remains possible, but Iran has always been wary of getting into a direct war with the U.S. Consider the reaction of Iran to the killing of Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and the strike on Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this year. The former produced a very limited retaliatory response, the latter still nothing. Deprived of its strongest proxy, the dramatically overestimated Hezbollah, Iran’s bluff has been called. Iran is left in deeper isolation in the Middle East, leaving the Ayatollah’s regime increasingly reliant on patronage from Russia and China. Iran’s pursuit of [nuclear weapons](https://time.com/6344430/israel-hamas-war-iran-nuclear-breakout/) remains a danger that requires Iran’s leaders to understand that they could risk its entire nuclear infrastructure if it continues. But the Iranian economy remains very weak and is being propped up by [windfall oil production](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/apr/15/what-next-oil-prices-iran-israel-middle-east). What does all this mean for the prospect of regional peace? Netanyahu needs to be able to translate Israel’s military achievements into political outcomes. He cannot let nationalists in his coalition define what is possible in Gaza and the West Bank. But now, given Israel’s actions against Hezbollah, Iran-backed proxy groups will no doubt be worrying about their own security, or lack thereof, with the myth of Iran’s protective shield irrevocably punctured. Israeli security insistences which may have previously seemed indigestible may not be as intolerable when measured against the humiliation inflicted upon Hezbollah, and by extension, Iran. The last few years have been marked by [roads to peace not taken](https://time.com/6323908/israel-hamas-war-middle-east-peace/), and while the opportunity for peace looms large, whether that opportunity is realized will largely come down to the [regional participants themselves](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/bidens-middle-east-moonshot). After so many [missed opportunities](https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/09/13/netanyahu-israel-iran-hezbollah-khamenei-nasrallah-long-game/), it is hard to [be hopeful](https://som.yale.edu/event/2023/11/arab-and-israeli-ambassadors-perspectives-yale-middle-east-peace-dialogue). However, even without any official accord, the removal of Hezbollah’s Nasrallah, paired with the complete degradation of Hezbollah, promises a new day ahead for the Middle East. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7026351/hezbollah-leader-hassan-nasrallah-death-opportunity-for-peace/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7026351/hezbollah-leader-hassan-nasrallah-death-opportunity-for-peace/"},"headline":"How the Death of Hezbollah's Nasrallah Brings a Renewed Opportunity for Mideast Peace","datePublished":"2024-09-29T18:56:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T12:57:56.026Z","description":"\"The death of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah significantly alters the balance of power.\"","url":"https://time.com/7026351/hezbollah-leader-hassan-nasrallah-death-opportunity-for-peace/","keywords":["Israel-Hamas War","News Desk","News desk edits"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc843609f1ba5b658/698a5b8a18689223156c88d1/GettyImages-2174713330.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Sonnenfeld","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-sonnenfeld/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Dennis Ross","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/dennis-ross/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Steven Tian","jobTitle":"Contributor","url":"https://time.com/author/steven-tian/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc843609f1ba5b658/698a5b8a18689223156c88d1/GettyImages-2174713330.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"IRAQ-LEBANON-PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT-RELIGION-ISLAM-SHIITE-HEZBOLLAH-NASRALLAH","caption":"IRAQ-LEBANON-PALESTINIAN-ISRAEL-CONFLICT-RELIGION-ISLAM-SHIITE-HEZBOLLAH-NASRALLAH","creditText":"Ahmad Al-Rubaye—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/israel-hamas-war/","name":"Israel-Hamas War"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7026351/hezbollah-leader-hassan-nasrallah-death-opportunity-for-peace/","name":"How the Death of Hezbollah's Nasrallah Brings a Renewed Opportunity for Mideast Peace"}}]}] ```